Reason for 5 home screens in Android Kitkat?

[Megatomic]

Ok, up until 2 weeks ago I was an iOS user. The number of home screens depended on the number of apps installed. Or you could make folders and reduce the number of screens.

In Kitkat, I have 5 home screens. 5. I can't delete any of them which makes me think that there must be some good reason for all 5 screens to be there even if I can't envision a use for them.

What is the deal here? Can I actually delete the extra screens? Am I missing the boat here by not using more than 3 of the 5 screens? I have widgets on 3 screens and have no use for any others at this time.

TIA fellas.

ps - sorry for all the questions lately, I do google this stuff first but the answers I find are sketchy or just don't provide the answers I need.

 

[gmaster456]

In stock Android you can't remove any extra home screens. In some custom roms and OEM skins you can however. That being said, if I were you I would just not bother with and leave them be.

 

[AFurryReptile]

Just use a different launcher...

I use Nova Launcher and have my home screen set for just 2.

 

[dawheat]

I use Nova which handles it a bit differently but I though if no apps are on a home page, the launcher will auto remove the blank page. Is that not the case? I've seen nexus 5 with just 3 home screens.

 

[Jinny]

afaik,
kitkat's default launcher wont let you have an empty homescreen. i just use Apex Launcher. though I have a paid Nova Launcher. I prefer Apex.

 

[Ravynmagi]

My Nexus 5 only has 3 home screens. I can create additional home screens by dragging an icon off to the right to create the new screen. And when I delete all the icons off that screen it disappears again. I was able to create up to 6 screens (I stopped trying after that). So it seems to work the same as iOS for me.

 

[ImDonly1]

I dont know what phone you are using but on the google experience launcher in 4.4 (nexus 5) you can add or remove as many homescreens as you want.

Or install a custom launcher like stated above.

 

[Megatomic]

I'm using a Moto X from AT&T with all available updates applied. This is a work provided phone (they bought it for me, it is mine even if I leave), so hacking it doesn't appeal to me just now. It came with 5 home screens by default, 2 of them are empty as in no icons, no widgets. I guess gmaster456 ultimately answered my question - just leave it be. I suppose it doesn't really bother me too much, it was just a niggle coming from iOS.

 

[MrSquished]

if you delete everything off of a homescreen in kit kat that homescreen disappears

 

[Megatomic]

If I create home screens beyond the 5 that were there by default, I can delete them. But the lowest number of home screens I can get to is 5. If I'm doing something wrong go ahead and tell me, I'm a confessed n00b and my pride will not be injured in any way.

 

[Red Storm]

Actually for me Kit Kat was the first time stock Android went from 5 screens to only giving you the amount of screens you needed. This was with the Nexus 5.

 

[n0x1ous]

KitKat on nexus 4 wont let you go lower than 5 home screens

 

[nOOky]

I also have 5 home screens, I use 3. I simply do not swipe over to the 2 unused ones. I doubt they consume a huge amount of resources that will affect performance, so I just let them there and don't think too much about them.

 

[dlock13]

Actually for me Kit Kat was the first time stock Android went from 5 screens to only giving you the amount of screens you needed. This was with the Nexus 5.

That would actually be the Google Experience Launcher which gave you that feature. Not the actual OS itself.

 

[s44]

This is a work provided phone (they bought it for me, it is mine even if I leave), so hacking it doesn't appeal to me just now.

Switching to Nova or Apex isn't a hack... you don't need root or anything. Just install the app, hit the home button, pick the launcher name and "Always"... you're done.

Installing GEL does need a hack, I think, because it only works out of /system. Could be wrong though.

 

[shortylickens]

I knocked it all down to one screen of widgets. Apps I run from the tray.
Widgets are the main reason Android pwns iOS.

But I hear now they finally got widgets.

 

[Megatomic]

Switching to Nova or Apex isn't a hack... you don't need root or anything. Just install the app, hit the home button, pick the launcher name and "Always"... you're done.

Installing GEL does need a hack, I think, because it only works out of /system. Could be wrong though.

Ok, I'll check out those launchers and see if they look like something I want to use. Thanks for the suggestion.

shortylickens, what phone and what version? Did you start with 5 home screens also, with the middle one (3) containing items and the others blank by default?

 

[openwheel]

download and side load Google Exprience Launcher. Solves all your problems.

 

[openwheel]

Only 3 pages. The left page is Google Now.

 

[Megatomic]

Which launcher is running on my phone now?

 

[s44]

Which launcher is running on my phone now?

The default Moto launcher. Not sure what they call it -- usually something like "Home"... It doesn't appear in the app drawer (because it IS the app drawer!) and you can't uninstall it, but there's no need to anyway. You probably should remove all widgets before you switch permanently though.

 

[openwheel]

what's your device? Nexus 7?

oh if you are on a Moto device, then it's just their own launcher that "looks and feels" like stock Android. Side load the real Google Experience Launcher and you are good to go. In fact, if you have KitKat, then GEL has transparent notification bar on top which looks even better. My Note 3 is stuck at 4.3 at the moment.

 

[Megatomic]

openwheel, it's a Moto X on 4.4.

s44, thanks.

 

[tsupersonic]

Nexus 5 is slightly different. In stock form, it includes GEL, where the number of home screens is dependent on how many icon/widgets you have on them. You can't have a blank home screen with no widgets/icons. Other phones with Kitkat behave differently.

 

[hanoverphist]

the note 3 has a "simple" mode with 3 screens. i use the normal mode, and i can delete home screens at will. i use 4, but my home page only has the weather on it. the other 3 are sparse as well, since i use a folder in the bottom icon row for all the usual stuff i use